How Old Were You When You Played Your First TTRPG?

[Velderan]

I voted under 8, but I'm not 100% sure. I was somewhere between 7 and 9 when my older cousin ran a BECMI game for his younger brother (who was my age) and I. We obviously had no idea what we were doing, but it was fun and it got me interested in the concept. We ended up moving on to Palladium's TMNT game around the time the 1987 cartoon came out and the main thing I remember was I played a mutant porcupine.

 

[Corinnguard]

I voted under 8, but I'm not 100% sure. I was somewhere between 7 and 9 when my older cousin ran a BECMI game for his younger brother (who was my age) and I. We obviously had no idea what we were doing, but it was fun and it got me interested in the concept. We ended up moving on to Palladium's TMNT game around the time the 1987 cartoon came out and the main thing I remember was I played a mutant porcupine.

I collected some of the TMNT and Other Strangeness material back in college, and tried to create my own team of mutant ninjas. The Storm Hawks (Aeolus, Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus and Notus). I remember when Palladium tried to come out with a 2nd edition for the TMNT RPG. The new edition was never developed because the 1987 cartoon was something of a turn-off for those fans who grew up looking at the original Eastman and Laird work (which was darker and grittier).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Nine, here. An older kid ran a couple games that were so wildly gonzo that it probably barely counted as D&D. Stats in the hundreds, a wizard living in someone's hair, crystal daggers that shot lightning. But it was more than enough to whet my appetite and not long after that I picked up the basic red box and started DMing.

 

[Mannahnin]

I was 10. Started with the Mentzer Set.

Same.

 

[Velderan]

I collected some of the TMNT and Other Strangeness material back in college, and tried to create my own team of mutant ninjas. The Storm Hawks (Aeolus, Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus and Notus). I remember when Palladium tried to come out with a 2nd edition for the TMNT RPG. The new edition was never developed because the 1987 cartoon was something of a turn-off for those fans who grew up looking at the original Eastman and Laird work (which was darker and grittier).

Yeah, as a kid I didn't understand why the turtles in the book's art looked nothing like the "real" turtles I knew from the cartoon. My cousin running the game clearly knew who his players were and ran games closer in theme to the cartoon so we had fun.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm another one who was 12. We played D&D1e, the TMNT RPG, and a few others. Wasn't until 2e came out that I got "serious" about playing (like learning the rules properly and playing regular weekly games) but I haven't stopped since!

 

[Willie the Duck]

Eight. Some of the 'big kids' (9-11 y.o.) were playing this game about dragons and elves and magic and I wanted to play too. With a little persuasion (and probably appeasement of adults), they helped me make my first character -- Gwystrom the fighter (a permutation of Gwydion, from my at-the-time favorite series, the Chronicles of Prydain). I didn't really understand what was going on with the system (not helped by the fact that they were playing a hybrid of BX and whatever Holmes, oD&D, and AD&D material they could get their hands on), but apparently caught the central play loop quickly, as I was made a full-fledged member of the adventuring team instead of someone else's squire or the like.

By the time I could obtain a copy of the game for myself (birthday, so turning 9) so that I could play with kids in my own grade, it was first printing Mentzer B&E sets. I initially was disappointed at not being able to get the 'same game' and the Elmore art on the cover seemed 'wrong' right up until page 4 when I found a picture of a lady with her hands clasped in prayer. Having just discovered fictional-character-crushes with Princess Eilonwy, I spent an afternoon re-running the introductory 'choose your own' adventure trying to find a way for Aleena not to die. This started a decades long love affair with clerics (and Elmore's one female face, wherever it be found) starting with an Aleena analog named Alarice. My brother ended up being the DM for that group, but I think the experience I had with BX (and explaining it as the rest of the group read) helped cement the exploration play loop for us all.

 

[Maxperson]

I was 13 years old and the year was 1983.

 

[GuyBoy]

I was 13. It was 1976 and a lad from the year above asked my friend, Phil and I if we wanted to play this new game from America, called Dungeons and Dragons.

 

[Pedantic]

10, 2nd edition AD&D, and quite specifically that module that has you playing as young dragons which I don't immediately recall the name of. I'm pretty sure our play had a very loose relationship to the rules at that point, and it was duet play with a truly absurd number of GMPCs.